Welcome to my library, my retreat for historical and academic pursuits. Please feel free to browse! My particular historical interests in the Orient are ancient and early medieval China and Japan.

Early Heian Era

The Heian period (794-1192) is one of the most intriguing periods in Japanese history, during which time the country enjoyed an unprecedented peace and security under the powerful rule of the Heian dynasty, which is why it is considered along with the Nara period (710-794) \"Classical\" Japan.

The Japanese at the Heian court began to develop a culture independent of the Chinese culture:

~ They began to develop their own system of writing, since Chinese writing was adopted to an entirely different language and world view.

~ They developed a court culture with values and concepts uniquely Japanese, such as miyabi (courtliness), makoto (simplicity) and aware (sensitivity, sorrow).

This culture was forged largely among the women\'s communities at court and reached its pinnacle in the book considered to be the greatest classic of Japanese literature, the Genji monogatari (Tales of the Genji) by Lady Murasaki Shikibu.

Heian government solidified the reforms of the late Yamoto and Nara periods. At the top of the official hierarchy was the Tenno or Divine Emperor. The Emperor was both Confucian and Shinto. He ruled by virtue of the Mandate of Heaven and legitimate descent from Shinto Sun Goddess Amaterasu. Because of this belief, the imperial line of descent has remained unbroken in Japanese history from the late Yamato period.

The Heian government established a military system based on local militias composed of mounted horsemen. These professional soldiers were spread throughout the country and owed their loyalty to the emperor. They were \"servants\" or samurai.

An important change occurred, however, in the middle of the Heian period. Originally the samurai were servants of the Emperor. (Da Yan Qin, whose site you are reading this on, is an early Heian samurai, an Imperial guard and horeseman).

The samurai gradually became private armies attached to local aristocracy. From the middle Heian period onwards, for almost a thousand years, the Japanese military would consist of professional soldiers in numberless private armies owing their loyalty to local aristocracy and warlords.

The early samurai were not the noble or acculturated soldiers of Japanese bushido, or Way of the Warrior. Bushido was an invention of the Tokugawa period (1601-1868) when the samurai had nothing to do because of the Tokugawa enforced peace.

The samurai of early and medieval Japan were drawn from the lower classes. They made their living primarily as farmers; their only function as samurai was to kill the samurai of opposing armies. They were generally illiterate and held in contempt by the aristocracy.

A little background on Da Yan Qin

Although I am a samurai during the early Heian era, I am not illiterate, or of the lower classes. I was born in China during the the Qin Dynasty to lesser nobles of the Qin clan. I received an excellent education and was presented at court to Emperor Shi, where I was conscripted into the Imperial army and trained as one of the Emperor\'s esteemed charioteers. My parents considered it a great honour to have one of their sons chosen by the Emperor himself to become one of his elite warriors.

I became a samurai in early Heian era Japan after rescuing a damsel in distress, who happened to also be a dragon. She thought I would be safer in a diffrent time and place and so she flew between the worlds and dropped me in the midst of the Tenno\'s court.

I helped train recruits and taught them the skills I had learned in China, including martial arts, swordsmanship and horsemanship. I in turn have become an expert bowman and have come to know and love the Shinto gods and goddesses and the Japanese way of life.